WW1 Songs Projects

The music from and about the bloody war in the trenches

In this centenary year of recognition of “The Great War”, there are still lots of questions and views held about the Australian participation in and contributions to the War. It’s a war that changed both how war was conducted as well as the way we viewed war.

In the same way that war has generated huge endeavours and corresponding leaps forward in science, technology and our understanding of the world, it has also been the source of much concerned thought, and a corresponding creative output that is still occurring.

These two projects are an opportunity to examine this creative output from different perspectives

The Front songs and poetrysubject matter is varied and quite often showing that the boys were understandably not happy with being away from their girls, with their commanders, the conditions or the constant threat of death.

This is quite different from the the romanticising songs that were written by those “back home”.From the perspective of the men at the fronts